Grain-car door.



F. T. GERDES.

GRAIN CAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED 020.12. 1917.

Patented July 30, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

FT QEKDES Quorum,

co Fpmravuruc WASMNcmN. n. c.

F. T. GERDES.

7 GRA IN CAR DOOR. APPLICATION FILED 050.12. 19H.

Pate ntd July 30, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- ings.

G RAIN- CAR DOOR.

I Application nieq December 12, 1917,, Seria1No, 206,804.' Q

To all whom/"it may concern: Be it known that FRED T. GERDES, a cititer,in the county of Fulton and State'of Indiana, has invented certain newanduseful Improvements 1n Gra n-Car Doors, of

which-the following is a specification, reference being had to theaccompanyingfdr'aw- This invention relates to freight car doors, andparticularly to means for mounting freight ear doors so that .they'mayslide lonedges away from the wall of the c r.

The general object of this invention is to provide very simple,effective and easilyoperated meansto this end which'maybe applied to allmakes of cars, without change.

A further object is to provide a'construction whereby the door propermaybe forced inward against'the jainbs of thefdoorway againstthepressure of grain or other maslides '15 and its shanks.

rial-carried withinth t locking frail, the

partly in section. zen of the United-States, residing at Rocheslockingan being "shown In the accompanylngdrawing; 10' desi gnates the wall, ofa freight car of any usual and su table. construction having the door IV Speei flc ation of Letters Pa tent. w

H way 11: 'Mou'nted-upo n supporting brackets V on' the side wall ofthecar in a line above f the door opening is a longitudinally extend- L inits bottom. The front wallof this tube-is V notched, as at 14: at aplurality of points. gitudinally or'be swung out with'their'lower 5 tothe shanks 16,j' of which there are two to each slide 15, are thedepending angle irons ing split tube 12 to thereby provide a tube havinga longitudinally extending slot. 13

- 17 .7 having outwardly projecting flanges'18. I

These flangesj18'do not extend to' the lower ends of the angle irons,-but the'otherfflange of each angle iron is extended 'and'bent'to I forma hook 19 there beingflai transverse A further object is to soeonst'ruct'the door that when the door is forced inward it will belocked against any longitudinal sliding movement. 7

A further object a is to provide improved means for swingingly andslidingly supporting the door and provide improved means for locking thelower edge of the door against any outward movement.

Other ob'ects willappear 111 the courseof the following'description' 7head 1'9 connecting'said hooks andextend-- ingin a plane at right anglesto thelength' of the hangers A Rotatably mounted upon the side wall ofthe car below the door opening is a ra'filj20. this rail being rotatablymounted in braek ets 21. Thisrail is arcuate incross section soflas't'oprovide a' slit 22 within which the hooks and head engage, asillustrated in Fig.

{1, this slot having circumferential extensions 22. When the rail"istu'rned in one direc- My invention is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawlngs, where1n:'-

Figure 1 is a front view of a portion of a freight ear with my improveddoor thereon; Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional-view onthe tion, it willinterlock with the I head 19, as illustrated in Fig. 4 and lock -theangleirons I 17 to the rail.- When,however'the rail is line 2'2fof Fig.1, showingthe door shifted 1 outward'showing in dotted lines the door Iswung outward;

, Fig.3 is anenlargedfragmentary section on the line 3 3 of Fig: 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section on the line 4-4: ofFig. 1

Fig. through Fig.1; Fig. 6 is alike view to' Fig. 5, but taken on theline 66 of Fig.1; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one'ofthe be turne 24 and locked inaposition to ilock the-an'gle' engage turned in a reverse direction soas to bring the slot toward the front; the rail will disfrom the head19* an'd allow the angle 'iironsto'be shifted'outward The rail may i w gd by any suitable means and I'Ihave I shown for this purpose a commonhandle 23,

which is adapted to be-engaged by'a latch irons 17 against movement. V pY The door25fmay be made of {sheet'steel 5 'is an enlarged uverticalsection the upper rail on the line"55 of I constructionybi tpreferablythedooris-pro- Y vided at'its-upp'er end-with anopening 26;"

or wood and may be! made i of any suitable normallyjclosed by a doorwhich provides means whereby grain may be loadedin a, car. The door 25is providedadjacentits upper Fig. 8 isa fragmentary perspeetiveview ndlower en'ds-and inwardof its side of one pair ei hangers and a portionof the with-iracks cefl 'thee iaeksthavingidownnc vj I looked.

wardly projecting: teeth. Passing through the flanges of the angle irons18 and r0- tatively mounted therein is a shaft 28 carrying toothedwheels '29, these toothed wheels being disposed between the flanges ofeach pair of angle irons and these toothed wheels engage with theU-shaped racks 27 and act --'to support the door. By rotating the shafts28, however, the door may vbe forced inward with relation to the angleirons, that 1s,

. forced inward toward the jambs of the doorway or may be shiftedoutward with relation to the angle irons. do not wish to be lim- 7 beshifted to an open position and when it is rotated in the oppositedirection for its full stroke, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig.2,the door is-shifted toward the j ambs. Preferably, locking means areprovided for the lever-so as to hold it in a position where the door isurgedlagainst the jambs. Any

suitable locking device may be provided for this purpose.

With this construction, when it is desired to-hold the door closed, thelocking rail 20 is rotated so as to engage the lower ends of the angleirons 17 and then the door is 'forced inwardby shifting the lever 33until the door'is :urged firmly against the jambs. Under thesecircumstances, the door with its hangersformed by the angle iron 17cannot be shifted longitudinally along therails 1'2 and 20 and the dooris held Furthermore, the door cannot be shifted outward with the hangersbecause the lower ends of the hangers are locked totherai-ls 20. Nowwhen it-is desired to unload the car, --'the first thing to do --is toshiftthe lever 33 to draw the door outward sufficiently to clear thejambs. Them if'the car is loaded with grain it is bestto unlock:-the'locking rail 20 from its engagement with the'hooks 19 and then the 1ressure ofthe rain will swin the door 55 b outward at its lower edge,thus releasing a certain portion of the graln. When the 'hangers'17 areswung back again to a vertical position, they maybe shifted along therail 12, by engagingthe lower ends of the hangers with the rail,-that isthe angle irons may be engaged with the rail 20 interlockingthe railtherewith and then the hangers and the door may be shifted laterallyupon therails 12 and 20. It will be seen that this :rconstruetion; isvery simple, relatively light and that it may beapplied to all forms offreight cars having a door opening in the side wall. While I havedescribed this door with special reference-to its use on freight cars,it will be understood that a like construction may be used for mountingdoors in other situations.

Having described my invention, what I claim-.is:-

1. In a door construction, a wall having a doorway, a rail disposedabove the doorway,

hangers slidably mounted upon the rail and swingingly mounted thereonfor movement away fro-m or toward the wall, a door carried by saidhangers, and a locking rail exs tending longitudinally below the dooropening and shiftable into or out of interlocking sliding engagementwith the hangers.

2. In a door construction, a wall having a doorway, a rail disposedabove the door-L way, hangers slidably mounted upon the rail andswingingly mounted thereon for movement away-from or toward the wall, adoor carried by said hangers, a locking rail extending longitudinallybelow the door, opening and shiftable into or out of interlockingsliding engagement with the hangers, and means for-forcing the doortoward or away from the hangers.

3. A door construction of the character described including a wallhavingan opening, a longitudinally extending rail mounted upon the wall abovethe 'door opening,

hangers having sliding engagement with the rail for longitudinalvmovement therealong and having rotative' engagement with the rail formovement in a vertical plane, asec- 0nd rail disposed below the dooropening, the hangers extending downward thereto and having detachableslid-ing, engagement therewith,adoor disposed'inside of said hangers,and means carried by the hangers for supporting the door and shiftingthe door toward or from the wall of the car.

4. A door construction including a wall having a door opening,alongitudinally eX- tending rail mounted above the door opening, hangershaving sliding engagement with the rail and rotative engagementtherewith and extending below the door opening, a lower rotatablymounted rail disposed below the door opening, saidlower rail beinghollow and longitudinallyslotted, the lower ends of said hangers beingprovidedwith hooks adapted to engage within said :slot, means forrotating the lower rail to engage it or disengage it from the lower endsof the hangers, and a door'carried by said hangers. Y

5. A door construction including a-wall having a doorway, a hollowlongitudinally slotted rail extending abovethe doorway, door supportinghangers having, slides fdisposed within the hollow rail and havin shanksextending through theslot of the rail and connecting with the hangers,the rail at predetermined points being upwardly slotted from saidlongitudinal slot to accommodate the shanks of the hangers and permit arotative movement of the hangers in a vertical plane, means for lockingthe lower ends of the hangers against swinging movement in verticalplanes, and a door carried upon the hangers. V

6. A door construction including a wall having a doorway, a hollowlongitudinally slotted rail extending above the doorway,

door supporting hangers having slides disposed within the hollow railand having shanks extending through the slot of the rail and connectingwith the hangers, the rail at predetermined points being upwardlyslotted from said longitudinal slot to accommodate the shanks of thehangers and permit a rotative movement of the hangers in a verticalplane, means for locking the lower ends of the hangers against swingingmovement in vertical planes, a door carried upon the hangers, and meansmounted on the hangers for shifting said door toward or from the wall.

7. A door construction including a wall having an opening, upper andlower rails, hangers slidably engaging said rails, upper and lowershafts extending through said hangers and having gear wheels thereon, a3

door having U haped members passing through the hangers and having rackteeth engaged by said gear wheels, and means mounted on the door forrotating said shafts to thereby shift the door inward or outward.

8. A door construction including a wall having an opening, ing railmounted'above the door, hangers mounted upon the rail and extendingbelow the door opening, a lower longitudinally extending rail with whichthe hangers have sliding engagement, said hangers comprising two pairsof angle irons, the angle irons of each pair belng spaced from eachother Coplu 0! this potent my be obtained mm cents each, by manning theY Washington, D. 0. r

a longitudinally extend-.

and arranged with certain of the flanges projecting outward, pper andlower shafts rotatably wheels mountedv on the shaft between the angleirons of each pair of' angle irons, a door, U-shaped members mountedupon the face of angle irons of each pair of angle irons and around saidgear wheels, the U-shaped members being interiorly toothed to engagetherewith, a lever mounted on the door, arms extending .from'the shafts,and means operatively connecting the lever to the arms to cause arotation of the shaft upon the shifting of thelever.

9. In a door construction, a wall having a mounted in said flanges, gearthe door and extending between the V I doorway, a rail disposed abovethe doorway,

hangers shdably mounted'upon the rail and swingingly mountedthereon formovement I away from or toward the doorway, a door carried upon thehangers, means disposed below the doorway for engaging the door 7 tohold it from outward swinging moves ment, said means being shiftable'toa position to permit the outward swinging movement, and means forforcing the door toward or away from the door away from said wall orhold it against the wall respectively.

10. In a door construction a wall having a doorway, way, hangersslidably mounted upon the rail, a lower rail extending longitudinallybelow the door opening and with which said hangers engage, a doorcarried by the hangers, means for urging away from the hangers, andmeans for disengaging the lower rail from its engagement with thehangers. V

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

FRED THEODOR GERDES Witnesses: 7 a

FRANK R. MOCARTER, OMAR B, SMITIL- the hangers to therebyhold.

the door toward ora rail disposedabove the. door- Conditioner otPatents, 1

